LASIK
I now have twenty twenty vision. If anyone is thinking about getting LASIK….DO IT!
It took around three minutes. They sat me down in a reclining chair under a large machine that ended in a tube pointed over the chair. My eyes opened my eye with a non painful A Clockwork Orange looking device and my eyelashes were taped out of the way. I leaned back and while a neck pillow inflated to keep my head stable, a round metal circle was lowered toward my eye. The nurse said “you’ll feel two light touches and then your eye will go dark for about fifteen seconds”. It wasn’t painful, but uncomfortable and weird. I was breathing really heavily, and I have to say that when the “little touches” touched, my foot kicked a little. I think some primal part of my body was saying, “Holy shit, your eyes are going to be sliced! Run! Run!” After my eye went dark, there was a sound like a can opener and I sensed that something was rotating on my eyeball. Extra creepy because then I knew they were cutting my eye. I still was seeing nothing. There was no pain. The suction was released and my vision returned. I was looking into the dark tunnel of the laser with a red flashing light. There was still no pain, but I did smell burning tissue. It was a little unnerving, but it happened quickly and the staff was very reassuring and professional, warning and telling me what was happening every step of the way.
I got up and was lead out to a chair where they checked that everything went okay. They said perfect. They put me in another exam room with a reclining exam chair. I waited fifteen more minutes and they checked again. They said everything was fine and I walked out the front door. I had forgotten to take of my green, over the shoe hospital booties, I had a large name tag stuck on my chest. I was wearing clear goggles that came with my kit of drops and instructions that I now know that I was only supposed to wear while sleeping. The valium that they had given me before the surgery had begun to kick in and I shuffled across the parking lot towards my waiting husband. He lamented that he didn’t have a camera to document to occasion. Apparently, I looked pretty funny.
Andy was waiting in the RV. We had stayed in the parking lot of the Clear Vision center the night before. I told Andy not to come in for the surgery because it was seven in the morning and I thought he should sleep.
I fell asleep in the back. We drove home and I continued to sleep in the driveway (in the RV, not the actual driveway). After three hours I woke up, opened my eyes and saw everything clearly. I thought that there would be some pain later in the afternoon. But there wasn’t any. Every once in a while it feels like there’s sand in my eyes, but they actually feel better than before the surgery. I think that the anti inflammatory drops are helping with my daily eye irritation from allergies.
It’s my third morning of clear sight, and I feel like I have been granted some sort of miracle. I feel like I have superpowers. I always felt that my prescription was never completely right, and now I realize just how irritation that was. I now know that sometimes I would feel uncomfortable because I was not seeing everything as clearly as I should have been. I felt like a weak animal not being able to see a predator jumping out of the bushes with teeth and claws shining.
All of the minor discomforts are gone. Discomforts that I now realize when added up were kind of a big deal. It was annoying not being able just to flop down in bed after going out for drinks. If I left my contacts in (even without the drinks), my eyes would have hell to pay in the morning. I never realized that my body was always in a slight panic as to the location of my glasses. Even after the surgery when I was seeing just fine, I would feel a small jolt and try to recall the location of them because “I couldn’t see”. No more tearing contacts, loosing one, running out of them, eye irritation, buying solution, stuck on lenses to dry eyeballs. No more waking up in the morning to a undefinable blur. My husband’s face is in focus. My face is in focus for that matter.
Over all, I could not be happier. I wish every issue in life could be corrected so easily and quickly.
Tags: